


The Barista, his Hyung and Death.

by Thierry_Lei



Category: VIXX
Genre: Car Accidents, Character Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Sad Ending, mature for language, no explicit content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 18:56:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17310083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thierry_Lei/pseuds/Thierry_Lei
Summary: Han Sanghyuk meets Jung Taekwoon (aka: Death) during work hours. He's terrified and runs.





	The Barista, his Hyung and Death.

**Author's Note:**

> Jung Taekwoon's pictures of playing Death in the musical 'Elisabeth' reminded me of the poem 'The Gardener and Death', on which this story is based.
> 
> Not beta read  
> And English isn't my 1st or even 2nd language.

.

* * *

.

***KNOCK* *KNOCK***

"Hakyeon-hyung! Please, open up! Hakyeon-hyung!"

***KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK***

"Hakyeon-hyung!"

 

The pounding on the door, and the yells continued. Hakyeon growled a bit, as he woke up from his bed and looked on his phone for the time. What? Just 10:00 in the morning? Hakyeon had planned to laze away in bed until 12, take a shower, a late brunch at around 1, a jog and stroll from 2 til 4 in the park, and then preparing for the dance class he would be teaching, that started around half past 6. Here in Seoul Hakyeon had enough students.

And now he woke up at 10 because of that banging on his door! What the foxtrot was Sanghyuk doing? Trying to break the door or something? Hakyeon slipped into his sweatpants and the t-shirt that was hanging over his chair, put on his flipflops and shuffled out of his bedroom towards the front door of his appartment. There he unlocked it, and flung open the door: "WHAT!"

Immediately he regretted his outburst as he saw Sanghyuk, red faced, red rimmed eyes. And were those dried up tear streaks on his cheeks? What could have brought his giant dongsaeng to tears?

"Shouldn't you be doing your part-time job as a barista right now?" Hakyeon asked in a softer tone. "I thought you began at 8 o'clock and were sheduled till 2 o clock in the afternoon?"

Sanghyuk sniffled: "Yes hyung, that should have been... but... but..." Sanghyuk sniffled again and a tear escaped his eye. "Hyung can I borrow your car?"

"What?!? Why?!?"

"I've got to go, hyung. I've got to run. To Daejeon, to my parents, or maybe even to Changwon, to your's," Sanghyuk said, and another tear escaped his eyes. He looked so afraid. Sometimes his lefthand even trembled.

"Why, Sanghyukie? Problems with loan sharks or something?" That was the first thought that shot through Hakyeon's mind.

"No, Hakyeon-hyung. Not that. I would have to be desperate if I wanted to have anything to do with loansharks." Sanghyuk sniffed. "It's not a loanshark that's after me... it's ... it's ..." Sanhyuk took a deep breath and blurted out: "Death is after me!"

 

Hakyeon looked at him, totally confused: "Death is after you? What do you mean?" 

Before Sanghyuk could answer, Hakyeon gestured him to come in. Hakyeon closed the door, while Sanghyuk removed his shoes, and slowly shuffled into Hakyeon's living room. Hakyeon pointed to the sofa: "Sit down, sit down."

Sanghyuk settled on the sofa, and looked up to Hakyeon, while tears began their silent journey over his cheeks again.  
"Now, " Hakyeon said, "can you please explain what you meant with 'Death is after me'?"  
"You don't believe me, hyung?" Sanghyuk asked, stricken.  
"I'm not sure what to believe, sorry Hyuk, it's a bit... Can you at least tell me what exactly happened?"  
Sanghyuk wiped his tears away, looked down, and took a deep breath: "It happened this morning, while I was working in the café, when..."

.

* * *

.

 

Sanghyuk hummed while he decorated another coffee. He liked to do it, when there was time. And the decorations on the coffee were cheering up most customers. He took orders, made the coffees, lattes, machiatos, whatever the customers ordered. And he decorated the cups. He also manned the cash register when it was needed.

Hongbin saw Sanghyuk working, and grinned. This was a colleague you could build on, and a good worker too. He saw Sanghyuk giving the cup to the (female) customer, who politely thanked Sanghyuk. When she saw the decoration Sanghyuk had made, her smile became even wider. And she said something. And Sanghyuk's ears became a littlebit red when he said: "Thank you very much. I hope you like it."

Hongbin came nearer until he stood at Sanghyuk's left side. "A crush?" he whispered. Sanghyuk blushed even more, but said nothing. Softly Hongbin chuckled. "Doesn't matter, Hyukkie, it's ok." 

Hongbin looked around, saw that every customer had their drinks and that there were no others waiting: "Say, do you think you can handle it on your own, while I go down, to check the supplies?"  
"Sure Hongbin-hyung. It's not too busy, so I think I'll be fine."  
"Good. I'll try to make it quick, okay?" Hongbin said smiling, before he went to the back of the café. 

Hyuk stood there, politely watching the customers who were seated around, in case any of them needed anything. As there were no other requests, Sanghyuk took a step back, and seated himself on a low stool behind the bar. He took out his phone, to check for messages and other things.

 

Suddenly he heard a cough. Sanghyuk looked up and saw a young man behind the bar. The man was quite tall, but probably not as tall as Sanghyuk. With raven hair that looked so soft, as the strands were swaying at the lightest breeze. And his eyes, were almost cat like. His eyebrows sharply outlined, as if he had used makeup to accentuate them. "He looks... gorgeous," Sanghyuk thought by himself. Even when he was completely dressed in black, black skinny jeans that hugged his long legs, a black turtle neck that covered his upper body, but also accentuated how light his skin was. 

Sanghyuk had not seen that customer before, and he had not noticed him entering the café. O my, he probably was so entranced by his phone, that he had missed the jingling of the little bell at the entrance.

Quickly Sanghyuk rose from his stool, and smiled politely at the raven haired man: "Good morning sir, are you being served?" 

The man's lips tugged slightly upwards, and he looked at Sanghyuk, no, he stared at him and then noticed his name tag. His eyes became a little bit wider. He opened those small plush lips of him, and a soft voice became (barely) audible for Sanghyuk: "Han Sanghyuk? You are Han Sanghyuk-ssi?"  
"Yes sir, I am Han Sanghyuk. Is there a problem, sir?" Sanghyuk hoped that wasn't the case.  
"No... no problem..." again with that soft voice. "I'm Jung Taekwoon, by the way."  
"Nice to make your acquaintance, sir. If I may say so, I haven't seen you here before. I'm glad that we can attract new customers. We'll do our best to satisfy your wishes, sir."  
"Thank you," Taekwoon answered softly, and fell silent, still staring at Sanghyuk.

"Err... sir, have you made your choice?" Sanghyuk asked after a short while. "Can I serve you something? A ristretto? Americano? Macchiato?"  
"... A latte please..."  
"One latte, coming up," Sanghyuk repeated the order. 

He immediately started to make it, but out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed the raven haired customer, who was still staring at him. Did that man maybe have a crush on Sanghyuk or something? As there were no other customers behind him, he still stood at the same place, when Sanghyuk had finished his order: "That'll be 4.500 won, please."

The ravenhaired man payed, took the cup and sat down at a table near a window at his right hand, with flower pots on the sill. He took out a phone and started scrolling, while occasionally sipping his latte.

And also occasionally glancing at Sanghyuk.

That started to creep out Sanghyuk, who kept his eyes on that man named Taekwoon. 

 

Sanghyuk saw that he suddenly looked up, a bit annoyed, his eyes following something. As Sanghyuk tried to discern what that man was looking at, he suddenly saw it: a fly buzzing in the air around Taekwoon.

What happened next, totally freaked out Sanghyuk, because nobody else seemed to notice. 

 

As Taekwoon kept his eyes on that fly buzzing around, he stretched out his left arm, blocking the aisle a bit. Then he opened his left hand, as if he wanted to grasp something. Suddenly an enormous scythe appeared in his hand. The long fingers of his left hand closed around the shaft of the scythe, the blade of the scythe, high in the air, pointing forward.

All of a sudden Taekwoon's eyes glowed up a bright yellow, while tracking the fly. He flicked his left hand, and the blade of the scythe swung, so it hung over the table, the tip just over the flower pots in the window sill. The fly somehow flew against the very tip of the scythe, and the blade flashed a gold yellow. The fly dropped down, in between the flowers.

The raven haired man opened his hand and the scythe disappeared. His still yellow glowing eyes flicked towards Sanghyuk, whose mouth had dropped open. The yellow glow faded away, so Taekwoon's eyes quickly were dark brown again. He had pursed his lips a bit, somehow he had noticed that Sanghyuk had seen everything.

Taekwoon looked away again, at his phone, and continued scrolling, reading, sipping his latte.

 

Sanghyuk didn't know what to do. His hand slightly trembled, as he continued to look at the man in black sipping his drink. He looked around at the other customers, who were reading, talking softly, doing whatever you do in a small café. 

And nobody, not a single one had reacted when that scythe appeared.  
Nobody had noticed anything.  
Nobody had seen the scythe.  
Nobody had seen the fly touching the scythe.  
Nobody had seen the fly dropping down.  
Dropping down.  
Dropping down dead.  
Dead?  
Dead!  
Death?!

 

Sanghyuk's eyes opened wider when realization hit him: Death was sitting in this café, sipping a latte, scrolling through his phone. Death was here. Death was watching him, again.

His heart rate increased with fear, when he saw the man in black rising from his chair, putting the phone in the back pocket of his skinny jeans, taking the cup from the table and walking towards the counter.  
Walking towards Sanghyuk.

He spoke to Sanghyuk with his soft voice: "The latte was very fine. I'll have another one. To go please."  
Sanghyuk received the payment, made the order and put the plastic cup with a cover on the counter. Hastily he retracted his hand, when the man in black reached for it. Sanghyuk was afraid to touch him. To touch Death.

And in his fear, he kept his eyes trained on the man in black, Taekwoon, Death. He saw that Death watched him, and that the lips tugged up slightly, as he picked up the plastic covered cup: "Thank you, Sanghyuk-ah."  
Then the facial expression changed. It showed... sadness? Pity? Sanghyuk couldn't decipher it, he was too scared. But he could clearly understand the next words, that were spoken in an even softer voice: "See you soon, Sanghyuk-ah."

Taekwoon turned and left the café.

Sanghyuk knew. He knew for certain.

Death...

.

* * *

.

"...is coming for me, hyung!" Sanghyuk finished telling Hakyeon. "Please, let me borrow your car! I've got to go! I've got to run! Maybe I can escape."  
"Escape Death?" Hakyeon asked.  
"I've got to try," Sanghyuk hiccuped. "I'm not that old... I wanted my mum to... I wanted to... My dad..."  
Sanghyuk broke down again.

 

Hakyeon sat down beside him, giving him a hug, while he leaned on Hakyeon's shoulder. Sanghyuk was terrified for whatever was going to happen. As his sobs became softer, Hakyeon spoke up again: "Listen Hyuk-ie, you can borrow my car. But please drive carefully, okay?"  
"Really, hyung?" Sanghyuk looked up to Hakyeon through his tears.  
"Really, Hyukie," Hakyeon answered, wiping away the tears. "And when you arrive in Daejeon at your parent's house, call me, okay? I want to be sure that you have arrived safely."  
"Okay, hyung," Sanghyuk sniffled.

While Sanghyuk wiped his face, Hakyeon rose from the couch walked towards the dinner table, took his car keys and walked back. As he neared the couch, Sanghyuk rose. Seeing the keys in Hakyeon's hand, the despair faded from Sanghyuk's face. A hopeful look was directed at Hakyeon, who offered the keys to Sanghyuk.

As Sanghyuk held up his hand, Hakyeon lowered the keys into Sanghyuk larger hand, but didn't let go.  
He pressed his fingers over Sanghyuk's hand: "Take care Sanghyuk-ah, take good care of yourself, okay?"  
Sanghyuk nodded.

 

As Hakyeon let go of the keys in Sanghyuk's hand, he suddenly was enveloped in Sanghyuk's warmth. Sanghyuk hugged him: "Will do, hyung. Thank you for everything." He let go of Hakyeon, shuffled towards the door, put on his shoes, opened the door and stepped through. He looked back, and with a wobbly smile he said: "Goodbye, hyung."

Sanghyuk closed the door.

.

* * *

.

 

It was already near 3 o'clock. Hakyeon began to worry. He was in the park, had jogged, and now sat down on a bench, sweaty. He opened a water bottle, took a few sips and closed the bottle again. 

Taking out his smartphone, he frowned at the time: "Almost three o'clock, where is Hyuk?" 

Sanghyuk had left around 11. To get to Daejeon would have taken him around 2 hours by car, with and extra half hour if the traffic was bad. He should have arrived at half past one at the latest.

But now it was already near 3 and Sanghyuk had not called yet. Hakyeon sighed a bit frustrated.

 

He noticed somebody else sitting down on the other side of the bench. Black trousers.  
As he directed his eyes to his side, he saw that those weren't trousers, but skinny jeans. Black skinny jeans. Black turtle neck. Soft looking raven locks. Nice eyebrows. Cat like eyes.

Something stirred in Hakyeon's memory. Then he noticed the drink the other man held in his hand. A covered plastic cup, from the café where Sanghyuk worked. That did the trick.

Death. The man in black. Jung Taekwoon.

 

"Are you by any chance Jung Taekwoon-ssi?" Hakyeon asked abruptly.

The other man had taken a sip, but spit it out and whipped his head to the side, taking in Hakyeon sitting on the bench. His mouth (ooh, nice lips) was slightly opened, the cat like eyes a bit wider, eyebrows lifted higher. Hakyeon had to admit that this Taekwoon guy looked kind of ... nice.

Then in a soft voice: "How..."  
"So you are Jung Taekwoon-ssi?" Hakyeon pressed.  
A stuttering answer: "Y..Yes... b.. but how...?"  
"You really are Jung Taekwoon-ssi? You are ... Death?"  
"H...How..."

"How I know, you mean?" Hakyeon's frustration over Sanghyuk's radio silence turned into anger towards this... this... this person before him, and to hell with him looking hot, with those eyes, and long legs and.. no, not now...

 

Hakyeon saw how Taekwoon nodded, and adressed him, his usually soothing voice turning very cold and sharp: "My friend told me, you little fucker. This morning, you have threatened my best friend, you.. you... "

Hakyeon was fuming, when he saw the face before him frowning in confusion.  
"In a café you've threatened my best friend, Han Sanghyuk, you son of a bitch!"

The frown on Taekwoon's face disappeared as realization seemed to dawn, audible in a soft voiced : "Ah, Han Sanghyuk...!"  
Hakyeon raised his voice: "Yes, Han Sanghyuk, you asshole. You threatened my best friend.."  
He couldn't continue his outburst, because a cool long finger was pressed against his lips. What the...?

"I didn't threaten Han Sanghyuk," Taekwoon said in a soft voice.  
Hakyeon pulled his face away from that finger: "You stared him down, you even said 'See you soon', you..."  
"I did not threaten Han Sanghyuk," Taekwoon repeated a bit more forceful.  
"Then why did you stare ... and .. and..."  
"I was astonished," Taekwoon uttered softly.

 

Hakyeon became silent, confused, until he could ask: "Astonished? Why? Why would Death be astonished?"  
"Because I saw Han Sanghyuk working here," Taekwoon answered softly.  
"Because you saw Han Sanghyuk working there?"  
"No no no, because I saw Han Sanghyuk working, here, in this city, in Seoul."

Now Hakyeon was getting really curious: "And why is that so astonishing?"

"Because," Taekwoon started, "I'm supposed to pick him up at 3 o'clock this afternoon, in Daejeon."

 

A sharp beep was heard from Taekwoon's backpocket. He pulled the phone out, and stared at the screen: "O shit, it's time. Sorry, I've got to go." He put his phone back in his backpocket, put down the plastic cup on the bench, stretched his left arm, opened his hand in which a huge scythe appeared that he grasped, and vanished in thin air.

What? That person was really ... Death?

 

A buzz from his own phone called for Hakyeon's attention. He took the phone out of his breastpocket, and saw the number. Sanghyuk's number. What a relief.  
And now he could give that insolent dongsaeng of his a piece of his mind for calling him so late. He accepted the call and yelled: "Sanghyuk, you little brat! I told you to call me back as soon as you arrived!!!"

Silence.

"Sanghyuk-ah?"  
"Am I by any chance speaking with Cha Hakyeon-ssi?" came the tinny voice from the phone.  
A voice that wasn't Sanghyuk's.

"I'm Cha Hakyeon. Who is this?" Hakyeon began to feel a bit unsettled.  
"This is Sergeant Park Gwangho from the Seobu Police station in Daejeon. I take it, you know Han Sanghyuk?"  
"Yes, but how did you get his phone?"

Hakyeon heard a heavy sigh at the other end of the line, followed by: "Sir, I'm very sorry. About 2 hours ago there was a very severe accident on the Gapcheondosi Expressway in Daejeon involving many vehicles. About an hour ago, Han Sanghyuk has been cut out of the wreckage of his car. His phone was still in working order and your number was on speed dial and..."

"Where is Sanghyuk!" Hakyeon began to panic.

"He's in critical condition, sir, and has been rushed to Eulji University Medical Center, at 95 Dunsanseo-ro, Dunsan-dong, Seo-gu here in Daejeon. At the moment he is ..."

Everything else the police officer said, became a buzz in Hakyeon's ear.

Sanghyuk.  
Wreckage.  
Accident.  
Critical Condition.  
I'm supposed to pick him up at 3 o'clock this afternoon, in Daejeon...

Hakyeon looked at the time on his phone. 

It was 3 o'clock.

 

* * *


End file.
